Manager, Life Cycle Planning

Lennox International•Richardson, TX

7d•$111,200 - $145,950•Onsite

About The Position

The Manager, Life Cycle Planning leads the strategy, people, processes, and systems required to balance supply and demand for new, active, and discontinued finished goods and repair parts. This role is accountable for delivering targeted customer service, inventory, and working capital outcomes while advancing life cycle transformation, automation, standard work, and continuous process improvement across the planning organization.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Supply Chain or Logistics Management, Business Administration, Industrial or Manufacturing Engineering, or a related field.
Seven or more years of progressive experience in supply planning, production planning, inventory management, or a related supply chain discipline; equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered.
Demonstrated experience improving or transforming planning processes, implementing automation, and sustaining change.
Proficiency in SAP ECC; SAP IBP or comparable advanced planning system experience preferred.
Advanced Excel and data-analysis skills, with the ability to work effectively with large and complex datasets.
Strong knowledge of supply planning, inventory management, product life cycle management, and continuous improvement principles.
Experience defining business requirements for workflow automation, dashboards, analytics, or planning system enhancements.
Working knowledge of structured problem solving, process mapping, root cause analysis, and change management methods.
People leadership and talent development, with the ability to set direction, coach performance, and build team capability.
Strategic thinking combined with disciplined execution and strong attention to detail.
Strong analytical judgment and the ability to make informed tradeoffs across service, inventory, cost, capacity, and risk.
Excellent written, verbal, and executive-level communication skills.
Stakeholder management, influencing, and cross-functional collaboration in a fast-paced, high-volume environment.
A continuous improvement mindset, curiosity, and a willingness to challenge existing processes constructively.

Nice To Haves

Three or more years of experience leading people, projects, or major cross-functional initiatives preferred.
Experience leading planning transformation, digital enablement, or enterprise process improvement initiatives.
Experience with advanced planning platforms, workflow automation tools, data visualization, or analytics solutions.
Certification or applied experience in Lean, Six Sigma, change management, project management, or a related methodology.
Experience supporting product introductions, engineering changes, end-of-life planning, and inventory disposition decisions.

Responsibilities

Lead, coach, and develop life cycle planners; establish clear priorities, performance expectations, and development plans.
Set direction for the life cycle planning function and translate business priorities into team goals, operating rhythms, and measurable outcomes.
Allocate work, remove barriers, and provide decision support and escalation leadership for complex planning issues.
Build planning capability through standard work, knowledge sharing, succession planning, and targeted skill development.
Own and govern end-to-end life cycle plans for assigned product portfolios across introduction, growth, maturity, decline, and phase-out.
Lead cross-functional decisions for product launches, design changes, substitutions, transitions, last-time buys, and discontinuations.
Balance service, inventory, cost, capacity, risk, and working capital considerations when developing supply and inventory strategies.
Establish planning scenarios, assumptions, decision points, and contingency plans for key life cycle events.
Develop and execute a multi-year transformation roadmap that advances life cycle planning maturity, scalability, and business value.
Redesign planning workflows, governance, roles, and decision rights to create an integrated and repeatable end-to-end process.
Partner with Supply Chain, Operations, Product Management, Engineering, Finance, Sales, and Technology teams to drive adoption of new planning capabilities.
Lead change management, communications, training, and sustainment activities associated with transformation initiatives.
Identify and prioritize opportunities to automate manual, repetitive, and exception-based planning activities.
Define business requirements and partner with technology and analytics teams to develop planning tools, workflows, alerts, dashboards, and system enhancements.
Establish controls, data standards, and ownership practices that improve data quality, decision speed, and confidence in planning outputs.
Measure automation benefits, including capacity released, cycle-time reduction, improved accuracy, and stronger process compliance.
Lead continuous improvement efforts that eliminate waste, reduce complexity, improve handoffs, and strengthen planning discipline.
Map current-state processes, identify root causes and failure points, and design future-state solutions using structured problem-solving methods.
Standardize life cycle planning policies, procedures, templates, controls, and performance routines across applicable product lines.
Create mechanisms to monitor process health, sustain improvements, and capture lessons learned for future life cycle events.
Oversee inventory supply plans and validate inventory targets, safety stock, order quantities, and inventory segmentation.
Manage inventory strategies for new, transitioning, and phase-out parts, including actions to reduce excess, obsolete, and at-risk inventory.
Drive performance against customer service, network and facing fill rates, inventory turns, days of supply, working capital, forecast quality, and plan adherence goals.
Lead monthly performance reviews, identify gaps and trends, and ensure corrective actions have clear owners and completion dates.
Chair or facilitate life cycle planning reviews that align stakeholders on assumptions, risks, tradeoffs, decisions, and actions.
Identify supply, demand, timing, compliance, system, and execution risks; ensure mitigation and contingency plans are documented and monitored.
Influence senior leaders and cross-functional partners through clear analysis, fact-based recommendations, and transparent decision support.
Ensure planning practices comply with applicable company policies, controls, and regulatory requirements.
Sponsor or lead life cycle-related projects, including product launches, portfolio transitions, planning system enhancements, and process deployments.
Define project scope, milestones, resources, risks, and success measures; monitor execution through completion and stabilization.
Prepare concise dashboards, reports, and executive presentations that communicate performance, risks, decisions, and improvement opportunities.
Translate complex planning data into clear business insights and recommended actions for leadership.